Hi SprayTansbyRyan! I am new to this business as well with the same question. I just joined this site for ideas.

I have several questions, I am hoping experienced mobile spray tan business owners can share their thoughts on the categories below:

My first question is how are business owners transporting their tanning solutions? I see people using the container for their spray gun with lids- but is this their only method? I seen someone else use a insulated thermos. How much solution do you normally take for one client? What are your methods to preventing your solution from turning green when you have left over solution and you continue to store it for later use. I had one brand new bottle of solution never opened turn green on me before from Aviva Labs. That was disappointing. I currently favor Sjolie Brand Solutions. Norvell is also my favorite brand.

I also read on here the debate of using an extractor fan. My biggest deterrent on this is the bulky obstacle of carrying it along with all my other supplies into customer homes. If I had a session consisting of a wedding party of clients I would prioritize a large box fan however for one individual client I ponder more compact methods or ideas. Has anyone tried using a saudering fan for a compact version of a giant box fan? Its basically a compact fan with a foam filter, same idea. It obviously won't work as intensely as a giant box fan but I would think it would help better than nothing and be easy to transport. thoughts?

Methods of transporting mobile spray tanning supplies in and out of customers homes. I read a lot of interesting ideas on this site. For a start up investment I like the idea someone posted about getting the Stanley mobile tool storage set up. They mentioned they painted it with custom colors and a logo sticker. This sounds like a professional and durable choice.

Spray Tan Tents. I have an inflatable spray tan tent and I love it. Does anyone else have experience with the inflatable spray tan tent and what are your thoughts?

Booking Organization. This one I am still pondering how to organize all sources of booking into one calendar. Facebook offers booking option which sources out to a google calendar. Yelp has booking options which I believe goes to schedulecity calendar. Websites have their own booking calendar which most have the option to source to your google calendar. How do you organize your booking into one calendar and one source from all your marketable web sources? I would like to hear experienced thoughts on this and what they use.

Gift Cards: How often do customers purchase gift cards and is this a necessary option to invest into to offer to customers when you only do mobile spray tanning ?

What form of method do you process payments? Square and PayPal Here are the most common methods I see small businesses use. Square seems to be the winner for popularity. I also see they have a method of collecting payment 'offline' if you have no cell phone service at your location and it will process your payment once you get somewhere to get cell service. I haven't seen PayPal here resolve this issue. I live out in the country so my cell service is sketchy sometimes. What are your thoughts?

Where is your preferred area in homes to spray tan? Obviously good lighting and ventilation but do you often prefer the back patio? living room, bathrooms are often compact. Just curious if you ever came into a home that you couldn't quite find a good location to set up your mobile station.

Lighting, how many people bring lights with them for mobile spray tanning and what kind of light set up do you use? It obviously important to have good lighting and the right lighting. I would think natural hue LED lighting would be the safe option because the lights won't get hot. I do think the hue of lighting plays an important role to visually determine the real results of the tan. Some lights can sometimes be too harshly blue or bright.

Customer Complaints. No matter how professional or experienced you are in any profession you will experience complaints at some point in your life. How do you address these complaints in your experiences? Do you offer a refund, do you offer a re-tan free of charge, what method do you use to try to resolve the issue and regain confidence back with the customer. Customer loyalty is important and every business owner reacts differently in situations and those reactions can play an important role in their success.

Spray Guns. What is the ultimate spray tan gun in your opinion and why? I have a starter set up for now being this is my first year professionally starting into the business using a MaxiMist and I can already tell I want to upgrade to a different gun but I want to hear everyones thoughts on which is the best option.

Does anyone use Sjolie. I love their product line and their holistic natural marketing and ingredients. I see they have a new product line called LUXE which has violet undertones. I just ordered some samples to try out. Has anyone tried this new line from them? I am excited!